Jeju Air disaster in South Korea final week, the deadliest airplane crash in years, surprised the worldwide aviation business. The nation is taken into account a mannequin of how one can flip poor air security practices into a few of the finest on this planet.
Three a long time in the past, South Korea had a dismal air security document. Its flagship airline, Korean Air, suffered a number of lethal crashes within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties. In 2001 US Federal Aviation Administration lowered South Korea’s air security ranking for non-compliance with worldwide requirements.
On the flip of the century, South Korea started an enormous mission to overtake its aviation security practices, drawing on the expertise of different nations, together with the US. Till 2008 South Korea earned one of many highest scores on this planet in a security audit performed by the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group. On the time of the crash, it was thought-about one of many most secure nations to fly to.
Air security consultants warned it was too early to invest on what induced the Dec. 29 crash of Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, which killed 179 of the 181 folks on board. It was Jeju Air’s first deadly crash in its two-decade historical past and the worst ever on South Korean soil. Jeju Water stated it was “cooperating totally” with the investigation into the trigger.
With a wide-ranging multinational investigation underway, consultants famous South Korea’s observe document in efficiently upgrading its security practices and stated authorities could ultimately be capable of be taught comparable classes from the Jeju Air crash.
“Over the previous few a long time, Korea and its airways and authorities companies have completed very nicely when it comes to implementing security administration techniques,” stated Hassan Shahidi, president of the Flight Security Basis, a nonprofit group that gives security tips. of the aviation business.
In attempting to find out what induced the Dec. 29 crash, officers stated they may have a look at a number of components, together with injury to the airplane from a attainable chicken strike. The plane had descended with out flaps or touchdown gear and had skidded down the runway at a better than regular velocity.
However one other key object of inspection is a concrete structure on the finish of the runway the place the airplane crashed earlier than exploding in a fireball. Aviation security consultants stated the collision with the barrier could have contributed to the excessive demise toll.
“The one space we will see progress after this investigation is over is de facto: What about airports?” Dr. Shahidi stated. “That is questionable given the problem with the concrete wall on the finish of the runway,” he stated.
Aviation security consultants stated a concrete barrier constructed for the so-called localizer antenna, which is used to assist pilots preserve a correct method to the airport, probably made the crash at Muang Worldwide Airport extra lethal.
The area across the runway, referred to as the runway security space, is designed to offer an unobstructed area for plane that will overshoot, underpass or deviate from the runway throughout touchdown.
In the US, the FAA specifies that runway security areas at most main airports should prolong 1,000 toes past the top of the runway and 500 toes to the perimeters. The Worldwide Civil Aviation Group, a United Nations company that units international security requirements, recommends a normal buffer zone of about 180 to 300 meters (591 to 984 ft) from the top of the runway and people on the perimeters at the least twice the width of the runway .
All buildings in these areas should be “fragile,” which means they need to be capable of break or give solution to reduce injury within the occasion of a crash. At Muang Airport, the strong concrete construction surrounded by a pile of dust is roughly 250 meters, or 820 toes, from the top of the runway, based on native authorities.
The reason for the crash is more likely to be discovered to be “very complicated and distinctive,” Dr. Shahidi stated. “However overruns do occur,” he stated. “That is why the security zone on the finish of the runway is so crucial.”
Instantly after the crash, officers in South Korea stated the barrier close to the runway met security laws. However within the coming days, they added that they’d examine whether or not the placement and construction of the concrete mound ought to be modified.
A sequence of lethal Korean Air crashes greater than twenty years in the past helped South Korea reassess its aviation security protocols and rebuild with a lot greater requirements.
One of many worst incidents was in 1997 when a Korean Air flight crashed on the Pacific island of Guam, killing greater than 200 passengers and crew. The crash was later decided to be attributable to pilot error amongst different components.
In response, Korean Air started new efforts to enhance its security. He introduced in specialists from Delta Air Strains and Boeing to assist revamp coaching and different practices. Korean Air additionally invited the Virginia-based Aviation Security Basis to look into its operations.
Korean Air stated in a press release that it “is devoted to sustaining the very best security requirements.”
By the point the FAA downgraded South Korea’s security ranking in 2001, the nation had joined the membership council of the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group.
South Korea is working to carry its home operations nearer to compliance with about 10,000 of the worldwide group’s requirements and advisable practices, stated Sangdo Kim, a former South Korean ambassador to the company and vice minister of civil aviation.
Till 2008 South Korea obtained one of many highest scores of any nation in an aviation security audit so far, Mr. Kim stated, and the nation’s regulators and airways “proceed to deal with day-to-day aviation operations very safely.” .
Nonetheless, Mr. Kim stated he noticed room for enchancment. Authorities search to implement a balanced stage of presidency oversight in all of South Korea’s greater than a dozen nations airports no matter measurement, however in observe it’s typically troublesome to do at smaller airports like Muan, he added.
The position of the concrete barrier close to the runway in final week’s crash stays unclear, Mr. Kim stated, however “if we discover out that it was a big issue within the catastrophe, we should always enhance the related laws.”
Mr Kim stated he hoped the crash would as soon as once more immediate aviation watchdogs inside and out of doors South Korea to make progress in bettering air security. In any respect airports, he stated, “it’s a fixed battle to get rid of all, even seemingly minor, security dangers.”
